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Post by rberman on Jul 3, 2018 22:24:50 GMT -5
So ebay flippers have these going for $20-$25 now and copies are hard to find in actual Walmarts. Walmart made their money, but so much for these reaching new audiences and being available as impulse buys as an affordable entry into comics. Bottom line, I refuse to buy these from secondary sellers at any price and am choosing not to buy anything at all, this book or otherwise, from sellers who are buying these up and flipping them whether on ebay or in their shops. -M Wow! I picked up the Superman, Batman, and JLA ones (is there a Titans one too?) yesterday at my local small town Wal-Mart. They were kinda hidden amidst the candy near a register, not with the other book and comic and magazine type stuff. There were not many there; it's a pretty small display. If anybody here didn't get one and wants one for their own collection, PM me, and I'll go back to see what they have. No markup. I haven't taken the time to read them yet, but they seem like all recent stories rather than the mix of old and new that I was expecting. I guess they want to keep the production style uniform and also use them to promote currently selling books. They'd do better to serialize one "Rhis is one of our best old stories ever" in every series. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Jul 4, 2018 6:02:22 GMT -5
^^ If they are looking to market these 100 page books to new, non-comic buying folks, going with recent stories seems like a very smart move. I know we all dig old comics, but for regular people making an impulse buy at WalMart -- perhaps because they've enjoyed some of the DC cinematic universe films -- I think older Bronze or Silver Age stories could be a real turn off. A casual modern reader wants snappy, action-packed stories, with computer colouring, a cinematic level of violence, and with the heroes inhabiting a 21st century world, using the modern day vernacular and sporting trendy haircuts. That's definitely the way to go if you want to sell these to a non-nerd audience, I think.
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Post by rberman on Jul 4, 2018 6:32:28 GMT -5
^^ If they are looking to market these 100 page books to new, non-comic buying folks, going with recent stories seems like a very smart move. I know we all dig old comics, but for regular people making an impulse buy at WalMart -- perhaps because they've enjoyed some of the DC cinematic universe films -- I think older Bronze or Silver Age stories could be a real turn off. A casual modern reader wants snappy, action-packed stories, with computer colouring, a cinematic level of violence, and with the heroes inhabiting a 21st century world, using the modern day vernacular and sporting trendy haircuts. That's definitely the way to go if you want to sell these to a non-nerd audience, I think. Another reason to avoid old stories is that DC keeps rebooting continuity, which in the long run has turned out to be more confusing than just strategically ignoring it as Marvel does. Your other points are valid. Computer re-coloring at least could be done, as happened with the omnibus edition of Walt Simonson's Thor, adding a modicum of shading. To my eye the effect was fine; I never read the original versions.   |
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 4, 2018 13:50:59 GMT -5
So ebay flippers have these going for $20-$25 now and copies are hard to find in actual Walmarts. Walmart made their money, but so much for these reaching new audiences and being available as impulse buys as an affordable entry into comics. Bottom line, I refuse to buy these from secondary sellers at any price and am choosing not to buy anything at all, this book or otherwise, from sellers who are buying these up and flipping them whether on ebay or in their shops. Scalpers are literally the worst, we often have to deal with them on Ecom/Shopgoodwill, but at least the money is going to a good cause at the expense of other who maybe just wanted it so that they could actually read and or play with it The thing that irks me the most is PS1 games. Okay, so not only do I have to pay hundreds for a game that I've wanted to play my whole damn life, but I also have to keep in mind that the CD might have gone through severe disc rot. Why do you think so many people buy older games digitally or just flat out pirate them? And don't even try with Nintendo, I wish I could throw every single Nintendo scalper in jail because they're utterly ruining my hobby
Another reason to avoid old stories is that DC keeps rebooting continuity, which in the long run has turned out to be more confusing than just strategically ignoring it as Marvel does. DC is slowly becoming Marvel in a better way though. I don't know where people get this idea that DC reboots every other year. They don't. Hell, Marvel does it more often than anybody because it's struggling to stay relevant |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2018 15:52:25 GMT -5
We went to visit my in-laws this morning and had to run to the Wal*mart out that way to pick up a prescription for my mother-in-law on the way, and I managed to find 3 of the 4 100 page giants there. No sign of Teen Titans, but I did find Batman, Superman and Justice League. After I picked up my 1 copy of each, there was 2 copies of JL left and 1 each of Batman and Superman,s o they seem to be selling well even when not bought out by flippers or disgruntled shop owners.
-M
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Post by Randle-El on Jul 5, 2018 9:44:17 GMT -5
^^ If they are looking to market these 100 page books to new, non-comic buying folks, going with recent stories seems like a very smart move. I know we all dig old comics, but for regular people making an impulse buy at WalMart -- perhaps because they've enjoyed some of the DC cinematic universe films -- I think older Bronze or Silver Age stories could be a real turn off. A casual modern reader wants snappy, action-packed stories, with computer colouring, a cinematic level of violence, and with the heroes inhabiting a 21st century world, using the modern day vernacular and sporting trendy haircuts. That's definitely the way to go if you want to sell these to a non-nerd audience, I think. I think that makes a lot of sense. I'm a comic collector and reader, and even I have a hard time getting through some silver age DC material. For anything before bronze age, the appeal to me is more for historical reasons. I can't imagine what a casual reader would think of those stories. |
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Post by rberman on Jul 5, 2018 11:22:01 GMT -5
We went to visit my in-laws this morning and had to run to the Wal*mart out that way to pick up a prescription for my mother-in-law on the way, and I managed to find 3 of the 4 100 page giants there. No sign of Teen Titans, but I did find Batman, Superman and Justice League. After I picked up my 1 copy of each, there was 2 copies of JL left and 1 each of Batman and Superman,s o they seem to be selling well even when not bought out by flippers or disgruntled shop owners. -M Has anyone seen a Teen Titans themselves? I guess someone bought all the Titans copies at your store as they did at mine. Here's an article with a good picture of what it looked like at my store. Apparently this is not so much a partnership between DC and Wal-Mart as it is a partnership between DC and some company that rents a shelf of impulse purchase products. www.comicsbeat.com/walmarts-dc-100-page-giant-comics-have-arrived-heres-how-to-find-them-in-the-store/ |
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Post by Randle-El on Jul 5, 2018 13:21:21 GMT -5
FWIW, Brian Hibbs has written an article giving a retailer's perspective on the Wal-Mart books. www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-269-wal-mart-content-and-ala/His main problem with the books seems to be exclusive content. I think he has a valid argument that all of the material, reprint as well as exclusive new content, is "new" to the non-LCS shopper, and therefore DC's inclusion of this material is meant to appeal to the regular LCS crowd. On the other hand, I'm pretty skeptical of his argument that this will take business away from LCSs. It's not like Wal-Mart is going start stocking regular monthly comics any time soon, which is the primary comics "diet" of the LCS shopper. And the LCS shoppers who go through the time and effort to track these books down are not likely going to bat much of an eye at a $5 price when regular books are $4. The eBay flippers will just look at it as an investment. And the ones motivated enough to go to a Wal-Mart and pick these books up (in addition to their LCS hauls) are probably hardcore enough that one or two more books at $5 is a drop in the bucket to them, and certainly not enough to drastically cut down on their regular spending. |
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Post by rberman on Jul 5, 2018 13:41:21 GMT -5
FWIW, Brian Hibbs has written an article giving a retailer's perspective on the Wal-Mart books. www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-269-wal-mart-content-and-ala/His main problem with the books seems to be exclusive content. I think he has a valid argument that all of the material, reprint as well as exclusive new content, is "new" to the non-LCS shopper, and therefore DC's inclusion of this material is meant to appeal to the regular LCS crowd. On the other hand, I'm pretty skeptical of his argument that this will take business away from LCSs. It's not like Wal-Mart is going start stocking regular monthly comics any time soon, which is the primary comics "diet" of the LCS shopper. And the LCS shoppers who go through the time and effort to track these books down are not likely going to bat much of an eye at a $5 price when regular books are $4. The eBay flippers will just look at it as an investment. And the ones motivated enough to go to a Wal-Mart and pick these books up (in addition to their LCS hauls) are probably hardcore enough that one or two more books at $5 is a drop in the bucket to them, and certainly not enough to drastically cut down on their regular spending. There are two possible ways that Wal-Mart could cannibalize LCS sales: 1) Some people on a tight budget may say "For five dollars, 100 pages of various DC comics is a better deal than 22 pages of the particular comic book that I prefer reading. Or in Hibbs' words, " Customer budgets are not infinite, and dollars spent in one channel are likely to remove dollars from another." This seems unlikely to affect many LCS patrons, and even if true in the short run, a significant increase in the number of individuals buying comic books can only help LCS in the long run. 2) If the 100 pagers always have the same four comics featured, just a few months behind the LCS, some people might shift to buying the 100 pagers instead. But I bet DC won't keep the same books in the 100 pagers. The Hibbs' better complaint is, "DC is putting two of their top writers on to twelve-part serializations for these new publications." |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 6, 2018 21:45:14 GMT -5
I usually really enjoy HIbbs, but he sounds like a jealous girlfriend in that article. For all his insight, he knows as well as anyone the industry needs something. His portrayal of the Walmart deal as being some sort of betrayal is nuts. It'd be one thing if DC was offering Walmart the same product at a better price, but this is a specific item to try to encourage new fans, not unlike Image selling vol 1 of Trades for cheaper than the rest, or the first season of a show being cheaper. They're trying to make new customers... that benefits everyone.
His point that someone paying $5 for 100 pages isn't going to pay $4 for 22 is quite silly.. there are plenty of things that are a good deal in a comic book store.. the customer can buy trades, visit the bargain bin, etc. Or maybe they WILL pay extra.
I expected better than 'I know I shouldn't hate it, but I hate it'
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jul 7, 2018 11:17:15 GMT -5
I usually really enjoy HIbbs, but he sounds like a jealous girlfriend in that article. For all his insight, he knows as well as anyone the industry needs something. His portrayal of the Walmart deal as being some sort of betrayal is nuts. It'd be one thing if DC was offering Walmart the same product at a better price, but this is a specific item to try to encourage new fans, not unlike Image selling vol 1 of Trades for cheaper than the rest, or the first season of a show being cheaper. They're trying to make new customers... that benefits everyone. His point that someone paying $5 for 100 pages isn't going to pay $4 for 22 is quite silly.. there are plenty of things that are a good deal in a comic book store.. the customer can buy trades, visit the bargain bin, etc. Or maybe they WILL pay extra. I expected better than 'I know I shouldn't hate it, but I hate it' Yeah, I don't get why he doesn't like this either...if he had these on his shelf how many would he have really sold? |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jul 16, 2018 19:10:59 GMT -5
I picked up the Batman issue and I was pretty underwhelmed. The new story was pretty good but the other included just seemed odd. I had thought these would include full or at least nearly full stories but instead there were just single issues; the first issue of Hush, one of Nightwing and a Harley issue. I really don't think single issues are what the casual audience is looking for so I can't see this project being all that successful.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,199
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Post by Confessor on Jul 17, 2018 9:56:36 GMT -5
I picked up the Batman issue and I was pretty underwhelmed. The new story was pretty good but the other included just seemed odd. I had thought these would include full or at least nearly full stories but instead there were just single issues; the first issue of Hush, one of Nightwing and a Harley issue. I really don't think single issues are what the casual audience is looking for so I can't see this project being all that successful. Yeah, if these are going to be successful with a casual, non-comic book collecting audience, each issue definitely needs to feature complete stories. |
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Post by brutalis on Jul 17, 2018 13:33:42 GMT -5
Not sure how they can be successful if you can't find them. 6 Wal-Marts all within 10 miles of my home and work with NONE of them carrying the DC 100 Pagers.
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Post by rberman on Jul 17, 2018 13:35:58 GMT -5
Not sure how they can be successful if you can't find them. 6 Wal-Marts all within 10 miles of my home and work with NONE of them carrying the DC 100 Pagers. Not on the aisle with the Pokemon cards? Perhaps your Wal-Marts don't have a space rental agreement from that particular impulse buy distributor. |
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